Sánchez: Blessed are the peacemakers

Thursday, February 2, 2012

CAN the military reinvent itself? Can citizens trained for war able to retrain themselves for healing, reconciliation, and peace building?

Why not? I joined Ramón Chito V. Generoso and SPO1 Gary Gattud from the Cordillera Autonomous Region for an evaluation of armed civilian auxiliaries who undertook basic training on conflict transformation/alternative dispute resolution and mediation.

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The evaluation was a follow-up to the training we held last November, with Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (or CAFGUs) and regulars of the 12th IB Cadre battalion as trainees for mediation of conflicts under their jurisdiction in the hinterlands.

To paraphrase the saying that if the mountains won’t come to Mahomet, conflict resolution should go to the mountains. It would be too much to expect urban-based professional mediators or the courts for that matter to go to the remote barangays to hear civil or criminal cases with civil aspects.

The best is to use existing government human resources that are based in the countryside. The first choice should be to train barangay officials to handle conflicts. The problem, however, with hinterland barangays is the perception that their officials are partial to people belonging to their clans. As any mediator knows, perceived partisanship neutralizes the credibility and integrity of the mediation process.

The only other government body that is based in the community is that of the military, especially the Cafgus. While many of its members are the sons and sometimes daughters of local farming families, their allegiance is often not to their families but to the military discipline that their superior officers imposed on them by a Cadre battalion. In this case, under Lt. Col. Alberto Desoyo of the 12th IB based in Panay and Negros Island.

Can the Cafgus handle the job of facilitating the resolution of conflicts? Based on the evaluation result, the answer would be a resounding “Yes!” These Cafgu mediators handled cases of land use conflicts, less serious to serious physical injuries, sum of money and estafa, oral defamation, even violence against women and children. They hewed to the list of mediatable cases that the Philippine Mediation Center-Bacolod provided them.

What was amazing is the near perfect settlement rates that would put to shame even veteran court-annexed mediators (CAM). Even I as a CAM scored much lower, and I have been a mediator for eight years. I flunked the land dispute CAM cases of the mountains of Toboso.

Most reported cases of settling the issues within an hour and there were only a few follow-up sessions. Barangay officials in a Vallehermoso village who have been unable to resolve was impressed how the Cafgu mediators convinced the parties to sign a compromise agreement.

The mediator trainees learned very well the lessons we pointed out during our simulation exercises in November, ranging from looking straight into the eyes of disputants to compelling parties to listen while an opposing party is speaking to writing compromise agreements duly signed by all parties.

Of course, I saw some flaws. One is the violation of confidentiality. All of the evaluation presenters listed the names of their disputants, a huge no-no in mediation. That would be tantamount to a priest breaking the seal of confession.

Another is the tendency of some Cafgu mediators to act as judges by extracting apologies from the respondents. For court-annexed mediation, an apology is the equivalent of an admission of guilt that a complainant could use to pin down an accused. In other cases, the mediators overlooked more serious cases. But these are weaknesses and flaws that are normal in any new processes. I had my share of bloopers when I was starting out. With the wisdom of hindsight, I would have handled several cases differently.

Blessed are the peacemakers, Sacred Scripture admonishes us. Blessed are these Cafgus who strive to prevent contention, strife, and war; who use their influence to reconcile opposing parties.

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